1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system virtual media, and more particularly to a system and method for networked virtual media information filtering.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems increasingly interact with each other through networks. Networked communication aids management of remote information handling systems by allowing information technology administrators to maintain the remote information handling systems from a centralized location. For instance, a remote access controller (RAC) is often used to remotely manage information handling system servers from information handling system clients through networked communications. The RAC supports communication of information using SCSI commands by interfacing a virtual media on the information handling system server with a media on the information handling system client to transfer information from the client to the server. Virtual media allows remote management through a RAC such as remote installation of operating systems, application software, drivers, BIOS updates and firmware updates, as well as running system diagnostics. The client information handling system operates maintenance applications from a local media, such as a CDROM, floppy, and communicates information through a client RAC interface, the network and the server RAC interface to a virtual media, such as virtual floppy or CDROM, so that the maintenance application runs as if operating on a media local to the information handling system server.
One difficulty with the use of virtual media is that the transfer of information across a network tends to be a time-consuming process. For instance, a typical network communication through a RAC includes media information, such as application data, and non-media information, such as access commands that manage the communication of the media information. One example of a non-media access command is the test unit ready (TUR) command, which is sent between read or write commands to ensure that the media, such as a CDROM media in a CDROM disc drive, has not changed. When information is communicated directly between physical SCSI controllers and devices, the non-media access commands introduce minimal delay. However, when information is communicated over a network between distal SCSI devices, such as with a virtual media interfaced through a RAC, the non-media access commands potentially introduce significant delays to the communication of media information. The communication of media information is delayed until the distal device responds to the non-media access command, sometimes a substantial delay due to network congestion, especially where a large number of non-media access commands are sent. Device drivers will sometimes send tens or hundreds of TUR commands between two consecutive read commands to attempt to detect media change, thus introducing delays for the transfer of media information between distal virtual media devices that are often many times the amount of time needed to directly communicate the same information between two proximate physically connected devices.